


I'll Be Here

by mithrilstarlight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 18:49:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16203533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrilstarlight/pseuds/mithrilstarlight
Summary: Trauma is a funny thing. Sometimes it takes finding someone else who shares it to accept that you have it.





	I'll Be Here

**Author's Note:**

> I watched The Last Jedi 3.5 times in a single day and only broke the cycle because I let my brain spit this out. Enjoy.

“I’m Poe,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Rey,” she replied. So this was the infamous Poe she’d heard so much about from Finn after their exit from Jakku.

He smiled and nodded. “I know.”

He knew? The corners of her smile twitched, half out of excitement and half nerves. Finn had probably told him all about her after he’d woken up. Finn seemed to have a thing for bragging about his friends.

Poe was quickly pulled away by the other pilots, BB-8 on his tail. She watched him from across the galley as she sat with the general. He was a curious combination of outgoing and intensely private. He checked in with the other pilots, congratulating them on their flying, but carefully avoiding any questions about how he was doing.

The Falcon was packed to the brim with the remnants of the Resistance. There were probably no more than fifteen of them on board, not including the droids, but the ship was only built for five or six. Lieutenant Connix was already sorting out the logistics of their shared space.

Rey stood and excused herself. The galley was too loud and the hole in the universe where Luke used to be was too big. He had gone peacefully, but to feel such a loss was too much right now. She couldn’t imagine how General Organa was handling it. Both her husband and her brother in the span of a few days. And her son.

The cockpit was empty, and probably the quietest place she’d find on the ship. She sat in the pilot’s seat. It didn’t quite fit her, having been molded to Han over the course of who knew how many years of flying. But it was comforting. She pulled her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes. For once Kylo wasn’t there, lurking in the corner of her vision.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” a voice came.

Rey jumped out of her meditation and swiveled to see Poe standing in the door. “Sorry?”

Poe gestured to the room. “I figured it would be quieter here. Connix is passing out rations, if you’re hungry,” he said.

Rey forced a small smile. “Thank you, but I don’t think I could eat right now,” she said.

“Yeah, me neither,” he replied. They stared at each other for a moment. So much had happened in the last few days it was hard to process. His eyes drifted to her arm. “Has someone seen to that?” he asked, pointing at the gash on her upper arm.

Rey looked down at the wound. She’d forgotten it was there. Even in the moment, she’d barely felt it. The heat of those weapons had cauterized it immediately. She pulled her arm in, shifting the wound out of his view. “It’s just a scratch, I’ll be fine,” she said.

Poe waved his hand and took a step back. “Nah, let me get some bacta gel. The last thing we need is you getting an infection.”

He disappeared for a couple of minutes and Rey stared out the front window. Stars streaked by in an endless blur. The general had given them orders on where to go. Another hideout with a close friend of hers. Lando, Rey thought the name was. She hadn’t been paying too close attention when Chewie was putting in the jump calculations.

Poe returned and took the co-pilot’s seat next to her. “Give me your arm,” he said, reaching out.

She turned and held out her arm. He took it gently and squeezed a bit of the cold gel onto the wound. With a light touch he smeared the stuff across her skin. She jumped at the temperature, nose wrinkling with her smile. “They don’t have this stuff on Jakku. I’ve always just left cuts to heal on their own.”

“I’m not surprised,” he started absentmindedly as he finished the job. “This is the good stuff, but even diluted it’s hard to come by in the Outer Rim unless you have a good medical center.” He looked up at her as he capped the gel’s container.

“Thanks,” she whispered. They stared in silence again for a moment before Rey pulled her knees back up to her chest. “You’re welcome to sit here, if you like. We don’t need to talk,” she said.

“Okay,” he replied, smile fading as he leaned back into his seat and stared out the window.

The minutes stretched into hours and eventually the rest of the ship quieted down as everyone went to sleep. Poe had drifted off in his chair a while ago, but Rey was still wide awake. She couldn’t close her eyes. She wouldn’t. She was afraid that she’d see Kylo again. Or worse, the pain of Snoke ripping her mind in half to get to Luke would come echoing back through her skull.

Rey stood, careful to make no noise as she walked to the galley. There had to be some caf in there. Between how much Han stocked and what the Resistance brought, there was probably enough for her to subsist on for as long as necessary.

She returned to the cockpit with her warm cup and retook her seat. It wasn’t a few seconds before Poe startled awake, his hands immediately gripping whatever was nearest with a white-knuckled strength.

Rey jumped, the caf sloshing in her cup just a little. “Are you okay?” she asked, putting the drink down.

Poe rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just a nightmare,” he said. She could feel the pain tangled up inside of him. It probably wasn’t her place to point out his lie, though. He looked up and wore a smile she knew he had to be forcing.

“Here, you need this more than I do,” she said as she held out the cup of caf. “I just made it, and I haven’t had any yet.”

He took the cup from her, nodding in thanks.

She curled back up into the seat and inspected her arm. The wound had already begun to close.

“I never thanked you for taking care of BB-8,” Poe said.

Rey looked up at him. “He’s a good droid,” she replied. “And he didn’t give me a choice. He followed me through the Jakku deserts after I rescued him from another scavenger.”

Poe laughed. “That sounds like him,” he said. Silence for a moment. “Still, thank you.”

He downed the last of the caf and then stood up. “I should take inventory. Thanks for the caf.” He walked out, leaving Rey alone in the room.

* * *

“Don’t say that, buddy,” Poe said as he oiled and cleaned the crevices of BB-8’s outer shell on the floor of the galley. “You’re picking up bad language hanging around with Artoo.”

Rey sat at the table, fondling the remnants of a lightsaber. “Artoo has the worst language I’ve heard from a droid,” she said.

Poe looked up, chuckling as he scrubbed at his droid. “It’s a part of his charm. I don’t think General Organa will let anyone near his memory circuits while she’s alive.” He looked back down to his work.

The Falcon was quiet while everyone slept. Poe would usually be asleep, too, but they had to have one pilot awake at all times, just in case of anything. And he didn’t mind taking on a few extra watches. It’s not like he’d get restful sleep anyway.

A snore came from where Rose was laying on the other side of the galley. Finn was asleep in his seat, head resting on the edge of her bed. He twitched and then resettled.

Poe looked back up to Rey to see her watching Finn, too. “He’s a brave one,” Poe started. “They give folks like us credit for being heros, but it’s people like him that make or break the fight. The Empire never would’ve fallen if Bodhi Rook hadn’t turned. And we might not be here if it weren’t for Finn.”

Rey met his gaze, setting down her shattered pieces of kyber crystal and metal. “Bodhi Rook?” Her head tilted.

“Yeah, Bodhi…” He drifted off. “Right, you probably didn’t get details out there on Jakku,” he said. She nodded, interlacing her fingers on the table. He stood up, patting BB-8 to dismiss him before taking a seat across from Rey. “Bodhi Rook was an Imperial pilot. He smuggled a message from Galen Erso to the Resistance about the Death Star’s weakness.”

“Oh,” Rey said.

Poe turned to look at Finn again. “I wonder if he’s comfortable sleeping like that,” he mused. He turned back to Rey. That got a smile on her face.

“Probably not,” she replied. “But he hasn’t left her side since we boarded.”

“I’m not surprised,” Poe said. “They went through a lot together in the last couple of days. She saved his life on Crait.” Finn hadn’t said too much about it, but everyone saw Rose purposefully crash her ship into Finn’s.

Rey picked up a piece of kyber and inspected it. “I still can’t believe Finn was ready to dive straight down the barrel of a battering ram cannon,” she said with a small laugh.

Poe copied her laugh. “I could barely believe it myself. It seemed like something _I’d_ do.”

“Are we talking about Finn’s reckless self-endangerment?” General Organa asked as she shuffled into the room. “Because that _is_ something you’ve done. More than once.”

Poe hung his head. Leave it to the General to call him out. She’d even smacked him for it. And shot him. He deserved that one, though. “Yes, General, we were,” he said.

The General retrieved a cup of water and downed it. “I should’ve shot you ages ago, Poe. It’s done wonders for your self control.” She then headed back to the door. “Carry on. Wake me if something bad happens.”

Poe and Rey sat in silence until the General’s footsteps had faded. Poe looked back up, wincing at the General’s candor regarding his misbehavior.

“Finn is a lot more than meets the eye,” Rey said, thankfully returning them to their previous conversation. “He’s too good for the First Order.”

“Too good,” Poe echoed.

* * *

Rey had lost track of how many hours she’d been awake at this point. Her veins were probably more caf than blood by now. She didn’t want to live like this, but every time she closed her eyes to sleep terrors would fill her mind. Memories from the ship. Memories of Snoke and Kylo.

Her eyes hurt as she stared at the map. They were still two days out from Lando. Downing another cup of caf, she rubbed at her eyes and sighed.

“When was the last time you slept?” Poe asked as he appeared in the doorway of the cockpit.

Rey didn’t have the energy to be surprised by his sudden presence. “I don’t know,” she mumbled.

Poe walked over and took the empty cup. “I can watch the ship, you get some rest,” he said.

“No.” Rey rubbed her forehead. “I don’t want to sleep.”

He took a seat and leaned forward elbows on his knees. “Okay, then,” he said. “We’ll stay here together.”

She turned after a moment. “Why aren’t you asleep? It’s not your shift.” It was Connix, if Rey’s exhausted memory served. The Lieutenant had opted to camp out in the galley and sort through the rations for the hundredth time.

Poe’s face immediately looked guilty. “I- I couldn’t sleep,” he said, looking down at his hands.

Rey watched him for a minute. He looked exhausted, almost as exhausted as she was. Then it dawned on her that he’d been caught by Kylo Ren on Jakku. It made sense. “Kylo reached into your head, too, didn’t he?” she asked.

He looked up, grimace turning his mouth into a hard line. “Yeah.” He leaned back in his chair. “He was looking for BB-8. Back when he had the map to Luke Skywalker.”

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” she asked. “It’s not a physical pain, but your mind feels different. Like someone cut into it and didn’t put it back together properly.”

“Yeah,” Poe whispered again. “I have nightmares. I’m back on the ship being tortured. I know they’re not real, but it doesn’t stop me from waking up in a panic.” His voice shook a bit. He was genuinely scared and she could feel it. Strongly.

Rey nodded. “I wish I could get that far. It feels like Snoke ripped me in half when he was looking for Luke. I’m afraid to close my eyes,” she said. Tears welled up in her eyes. It was the first time she said it out loud. She was afraid.

Poe stood and gestured for her to join him. Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself to her feet. Without a word, Poe pulled her into a gentle hug. A sob clawed its way up and out of her chest. She wrapped her arms loosely around him to keep herself steady as she shook.

Minutes went by as she cried. It felt good. It was cathartic. Eventually, the exhaustion in her bones started to get the better of her. She let go and pulled back, sitting back down. “I’m so tired,” she whispered.

“I’ll be here,” Poe said. “I’ll be here if anything happens.”


End file.
